Difference between revisions of "Soulbeast - Sic 'Em Sniper"

* {{Skill|Signet of Stone}} - as good as it gets vs direct damage spikes.

* {{Skill|Signet of Stone}} - as good as it gets vs direct damage spikes.

* {{Skill|Dolyak Stance}} - excellent damage mitigation and anti-CC.

* {{Skill|Dolyak Stance}} - excellent damage mitigation and anti-CC.

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'''Healing skill'''

'''Healing skill'''

* {{Skill|Troll Unguent}} - if more cleansing or {{gw2wiki|Fury}} is needed as it has synergy with {{Trait|Wilderness Knowledge}}.

* {{Skill|Troll Unguent}} - if more cleansing or {{gw2wiki|Fury}} is needed as it has synergy with {{Trait|Wilderness Knowledge}}.

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'''Elite'''

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* {{Skill|One Wolf Pack}} - increased burst damage.

==Specializations==

==Specializations==

Revision as of 07:56, 12 June 2019

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Equipment Changes

Your next attack after you swap to this weapon while in combat inflicts 5 stacks of vulnerability for 5 seconds. (Cooldown: 9s)

- a damage modifier for the first burst after weapon swap.

Superior Sigil of Separation

Superior Sigil of Separation

Deal 5% extra damage to targets more than 500 distance away.

- another damage modifier.

Superior Sigil of Revocation

10

Superior Sigil of Revocation

On hit, remove a boon. (Cooldown: 10s)

- single boonstrip, but unlike Annulment this one cannot be avoided through evasion and other such means.

Runes

- increase to overall boon duration.

- a very tanky alternative.

Amulet

Marauder Amulet

Marauder Amulet

+1050 Power+1050 Precision+560 Vitality+560 Ferocity

- better vs condition-heavy comps.

Usage

Elite specialization basics

Soulbeast allows Rangers to meld with their pet, becoming one. This is done through which has a 10s CD.

Entering Beastmode breaks stun, makes your attacks unblockable for a few seconds, while granting extra stats and skills based on pet type.

Pet related traits and skills such as

continue to function even while merged, but this time you'll be the one who benefits from them, not the pet (although sometimes the effects are lessened).

IMPORTANT: skills that affect your pet like have to be used after merging if you wish to benefit from them, already active skill effects will be lost just like when swapping pets.

used while in Beastmode will grant you Might on each hit you land. -especially against multiple targets- can quickly build up 25 stacks of Might which is best used on (Longbow), (Greatsword), or (Beastmode, Smokescale).

Merging with the pet is usually kept for delivering burst damage but has a few other applications as well, like mobility from Gazelle or instant evasion through Smokescale's Smoke Assault. You can also meld with dead pets and then exit the form to instantly revive them.

General

should be used just before leaving spawn to grant Swiftness to the team via

. In combat, to get the most out of the fact that it can grant you extra boons, try to use it if your pet has Protection and Quickness.

reduces the condition damage you take by 33% while affected by this boon.

Survival skills cure 2 conditions and grant Fury. (if taken) can cleanse 4, because it triggers another Survival skill from

.

Greatsword and Rock Gazelle's beast mode allow for great mobility and disengaging/kiting. Beastmode in general grants a flat 25% movement speed boost on its own.

is extremely useful against direct damage spikes, but you have to use it proactively and sometimes even predict when the burst is coming. Use it too late and it's wasted, too soon and your opponent can just delay its plan until the signet runs out.

, the last skill of the Greatsword auto attack chain grants evasion. Under heavy pressure you can stow your weapon just before the skill ends, and use it again 2 more times the same way for more evasion. After a total of 3 uses the chain will restart.

has many uses.

It can be used offensively for the Quickness, most notably to boost , , or Greatsword autos for downed cleave.

Alternatively the Superspeed can help you escape damage or chase down targets while on Greatsword.

(Owl skill) will be your second healing skill / best way to fight condition bursts. It's also AoE, so try to share it with as many allies as possible!

Doing damage

allows you to reliably burst specs with a lot of blocking/anti-projectile skills such as Firebrands. Unloading your burst right after entering Beastmode is preferable for this reason, but can make you more predictable.

will grant Attack of Opportunity to you while melded, this is best used for boosting 's damage.

Smoke Assault can be used as an instant source of evasion in case you run out of dodges. The damage it does isn't bad either, but not that significant unless all attacks land on the same target.

The optimal burst combo is fairly straightforward:

Make sure you have Fury by the time you'll unload your Longbow skills.

Get Quickness from either

,

Superior Sigil of Agility

9

Superior Sigil of Agility

Gain 5 seconds of swiftness and 1 second of quickness when you swap to this weapon while in combat. (Cooldown: 9s)

By far one of the most enjoyable ranger builds for solo/duoQ ranked. High amount of stunbreaks, works great in the current CC heavy meta, unparalleled range and single target burst dps with longbow, above average sustain with heals,resistance and superior condition cleanse, absolutely amazing mobility which enables decapping/capping around the map rather quickly, little bit of team support with spiritual reprieve, melee combat feels fluid and GS overall has insane utility and the burst dps from maul is nothing to joke about. The only shortcoming I see is the build's inability to cope with outnumbers, but given the amount of disengage potential that can be mitigated rather well.Rather low skill floor, but appropriately high skill ceiling that potentially prevents the class from being abused. Overall, a build that is a veritable jack of all trades in the sense it can teamfight, 1v1 and create decap pressure.

One of the best soloQ builds. Few builds can match its burst damage (and there is very little downtime between bursts), has decent sustain (multiple sources of stealth help a lot), and pretty good mobility - even a little bit of support from the Owl. Very well rounded build for ranked, but not very popular in ATs as overall it does get outclassed by a few specs.

This build is probably the Soulbeast build that has the highest skill ceiling.

The great combination of both defensive and offensive utilities carries into a game with when played well, the same capacities to bunker a point as a Boonbeast, while having more damage output and higher burst damage at the expense of some durability. Can 2v1, excels in 1v1s, decent pressure in team fights (paired with Barrage and Smokescale merge each tick can hit for up to 1.5k rather easily), you can kite very well, have decent condition management and a great heal to pair it with. I would suggest Siamoth instead of Owl, but that's really out for personal preference. "Protect Me!" can also save you a lot more than you think, you can take that instead of Dolyak Stance or Lightning Reflexes to counter-chain your opponent!

In this power crept meta (while I'm writing this review), this build is a solid pick if you want to invest your time in learning a class and have results for the efforts you put into it!

I have been playing Holosmith since PoF released back in September, and recently got bored of it. Additionally, I really started to feel the nerfs once the March balance patch released. Now, I'm not bashing Holosmith or anything, because it's still great, but I wanted something fresh for a change.

I don't like playing support builds so I decided to see what options I had as a DPS'er. Thief is not my style. Spellbreaker is too easy. Mesmer? Too fotm. Weaver? Lol. Ranger? Never played it before and it seemed interesting.

I have no idea why Soulbeast gets such a bad rap in the PvP community. This build is quite possibly the highest single target DPS build I have yet played in PvP, with superb range to boot. And the squishiness that I have seen critiqued often while browsing the forums is just not there. Troll Unguent heals well. Protection uptime is fine and heals you. Signet of Stone negates counter burst. You have great mobility and kiting potential with permanent swiftness, Gazelle pet, and the Greatsword. And to top it off, unblockables and plenty of condition clearing.

I think this build is just a great all-arounder with excellent, unblockable burst, and I'm having way more fun with it than I ever did with Holosmith, and my win rate is mostly the same. The only con I've really come to dislike is the lack of AoE damage compared to Holosmith, but again, that single target damage is just nasty. Cheers to whoever posted the build.

good for bursting from range. viable but is a throw up class, many think it is much better than core and that is pretty much the only reason it's played. Mostly just a good pick as a purely for fun build for those who don't like bunker classes.

Post 3/27 Patch Edit: Been playing around with this build a bit more, and in addition to changes to the meta, I believe it is indeed a viable DPS spec. I play it a little differently than the build posted above. I prefer taking OWP over SoTP, and I take Bear Stance in the optional slot. This leaves your stability uptime at about the same as before, but grants you a nastier burst.

The damage is the really underrated aspect of the build here. Not only is it absurd, but Unstoppable Union gives you on demand four seconds of unblockable attacks every ten seconds. Of course, this DPS by no means leaves you tanky, yet the ease of disengaging with either Swoop, Charge, or Hunter's shot keeps you in the playing field. Condi's are also more or less an afterthought with the exceptional cleansing provided by Troll Unguent along with your pet swaps.

As Hanz said in the post above mine, this plays just like core lb/gs, except you have the added utility of soulbeast. It's nothing too fancy, yet in the end basically proves itself to be a straight upgrade over core at this point.

I was wrong about biks build, i definately believe unblockables are incredibly good alternative in combatting tons of blocks the current meta has and should still deserve more love, However beastmastery is so much more versertaile then markmanship, this build is clearly taking the cake for best soulbeast build available in a more balanced manner. there is so much u can do even without sic em.

This is a great build that i like to use with either Druid or Soulbeast due to power and mobility. Since GS buff on dec 12, this build has been really great against many opponents and also you can easily get 10k damage with this build. Personally i like using Berserker with soldier runes for more damage and condi clense. I also recommend that instead of quickening zephir and sicem, this build can be much more than a sniper if you add toughness and more condi clense to it. For heal skill, troll is the middle ground option for good heals and condi clense If you need more condi clense, go with bear stance, more heals go with "we heal as one." Signet of stone for me is a must to avoid heavy bursts. And depending on the team composition, i go with either protect me, signet of renewal, or dolyak stance to emphasize on movement. Also it is better to have a defensive pet with you. preferably bear because if you need quick condi clear, you swap to bear (2 condi clear, quickness and stunbreaker) then you activates its ability (2 condi clear) after that merge (stun breaker) then us its endure pain or healing skill. It is a very good burst heal in dire situations and it is a good defense against condi. For the attack pet thats up to you. Either smokescale (more burst) or gazelle (more mobility) as they can do alot of damage and can land you a good 10-15k burst. With that set up IMO, the build is a versetile build that can focus on anything it wants to do.

Tested this today for several ranked matches and the build turned out to be surprisingly effective at sniping down important targets from great range. This was especially true for hunting down Necros trying to capture points. The range from the longbow is also great for helping out team mates in close 1-vs-1s happening not on points, thus being very good at gaining important points from killing opponents throughout a match.

Although I do love my Jacaranda, Gazelle is needed here for the roaming speed as you definitely want a lot of mobility to keep your range and for optimizing shooting angles.

@Rubyrousseau The way I play this mobility is absolute king and there isn't really any other pet than Gazelle that gives you a considerable movement skill on such a low cd (bird swoop is terrible). Jacaranda is a good pet and so is Iboga but not for a power build imo. They just dont offer what I want which is not get hit at all and maximum mobility. Signet of the Hunts speedboost is useless because this offers perma swiftness already (which overwrites SotH buff). The blocking is good versus certain classes so I can see switching to it in certain matchups but in general SotH does too little imo. If you want the unblockables you get a higher uptime via the trait by toggling beastmode a lot. Most of the time you should stick to Gazelle mode though from what I experience.

As long as we have this necro/thief heavy meta I feel like this is the most viable alternative to druid and offers an actual DPS playstyle. You are basically a ranged thief which makes you the top choice vs necros. Also being able to 1v1 thieves that jump you is a cool sideffect.